Wednesday, September 29, 2010

The A.J. Green jersey-selling story has re-ignited the debate, at least in some quarters, over whether college athletes should be paid.

Georgia head coach Mark Richt was asked about that on the weekly SEC teleconference. Richt started out by pointing out that a lot of players do get extra money, through Pell Grants.

But Green, whose family Richt said was “middle-income”, would not qualify for Pell Grant money. So the coach wondered if there was a way to get a little more money to someone in Green’s position.

“Maybe there should be something across the board where everybody can get a little bit more than what they’re getting,” Richt said.

The problem, as Richt went on to point out, is the inequity that would create. The SEC clearly has the money to pay football players, as do most other Division I-A leagues. But then athletes in non-revenue sports, and athletes at all levels, would want some. And college presidents, and the people who run college athletics, don’t really want to delve into that morass.

“As long as we’re structured the way we are, it’s just not gonna fly,” Richt said.

- You may have heard that Colorado is using this weekend to honor its 1990 national championship team. Well, national champions according to some people.

The Buffaloes lost one game (to Tennessee), tied Illinois, and beat Missouri thanks to a (cough, ahem, cough) extra down. So there’s another team in the state of Georgia that claims to be champion that year.

I got a bit of a kick out of Colorado’s weekly release, which I’ll quote:

Now apparently, our use of the word ‘concensus’ upsets a few folks around the country. It’s not to slam others, but rather to strengthn CU’s case for that season since many point to the Fifth Down game or the clip on Raghib Ismail’s punt return in the Orange Bowl and say our title is tainted. But fact is fact; at the time nine basic postseason polls were recognized as determining a unanimous or consensus national champion: Colorado topped in six of those: Associated Press, FWAA (Football Writers Association of America), National Football Foundation/College Football Hall of Fame (MacArthur Trophy), USA Today-CNN, Sporting News and Football News. Georgia Tech won the United Press International poll (by 1 point) and Miami, Fla., the Sagarin and New York Times computer rankings.

(Like how they stuck the “by 1 point” in parenthesis?)

Georgia offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, who was in high school at the time, was asked Tuesday who he thought was the legitimate champion that year.

Bobo gave the politically correct answer.

“It was Colorado,” he said with a smile. “Shawn Jones was the quarterback for Tech then and my Dad coached him, so I kind of pulled a little for Tech – back then.”

Among the notable alumni of that team who have RSVPed for Saturday: Then-head coach Bill McCartney, former Colorado coach Gary Barnett, who was the quarterbacks coach on that team, quarterback Darian Hagan, and former NFL players Chad Brown (an inside linebacker), Jay Leeuwenberg (a center), Mike Pritchard (receiver) and Tom Rouen (punter).

- Colorado reserve defensive tackle Conrad Obi, who grew up in Grayson, Ga., originally committed to Georgia. He said Wednesday his switch was nothing against Georgia.

“I was just looking for something new,” Obi said.

In fact, Obi said Colorado wasn’t recruiting him until the Buffaloes lost at Georgia in 2007. Obi was at the game, and decided he was interested in the Buffaloes, and sent his film to Boulder.

- Does anybody else think “Mad Men” has slowed down a bit as the season has gone on? I’m not sensing a big finish to it, but perhaps I’m wrong. Don Draper is now telling everybody he’s really Dick Whitman, so it doesn’t seem like that will be the big finish. I’m not complaining, but I guess the home run episode a few seasons ago – Don and Peggy’s star showing – just set the bar real high.

- Speaking of TV, any “Dexter” fans out there? I liked the first episode – one Dexter kill, and one weird Debra hook-up - check, check. But am a bit curious to see where they’re taking the rest of the season. The fellow detective on the trail of Dexter’s secret life – didn’t we do that with Dokes in Season 2?

- Ironic story that may only interest me, at least on this coast: Sacramento is in danger of losing its NBA franchise, unless the Kings can get a new arena deal. This would have to be the first time in history a mayor who presided over a team losing town actually PLAYED in that league: Sacramento’s mayor is Kevin Johnson, the former All-Star point guard.

11 comments:

Carter
said...

Seth, You said you have a mailbag coming up. I am not on Twitter, or any other social media for that matter, and e-mails seem so formal anymore. So hopefully you can take my question from the comments.

Basically, what I want to know is whats up with Rantavious Wooten (AKA Wooten-DA-Ballcarrier)? Must see clip here re his nickname: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmHHmcplNnM.

Since you weren't here last year, Seth, you might be surprised to know Wooten is on the team, given how much PT he's gotten this year.He proved he could make plays when given the opportunity last year. Maybe a play-maker could have helped in all the quarters where we couldn't find the end-zone the past 3 weeks.

I love how our society deals with folks that screw up. Instead of punishing the offender we come up with ways to excuse the behavior. AJ Green broke a rule by selling his jersey. So what do some folks say? AJ sold his Jersey because athletes don't get paid. No, AJ sold his jersey because he didn't have the moral standing not to break a rule. Now, I'm not saying that AJ deserves the death penalty. We are all morally flawed. But stop making excuses for a guy that broke a rule.

Hey anon 1:35 your list and everybody elses stupid list are starting to piss me off! Most of those coaches have been at those schools for less than six years! I could make a list of any coach in history and make it seem like they sucked at some point! Do you think any coach has been consistently great for his whole tenure? Especially at ga!

Another question for you fire Richt "fans". What other coach in the sec would you rather see at ga ? Other than saban and meyer? There is no other coach after these two I would choose before richt! I think I would take him over Meyer too! I don't like the guy!

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About the Author

Seth Emerson has been covering the SEC and Georgia (on and off) since 2002. He worked at the Albany Herald from 2002-05, then spent five years at The State in Columbia, S.C., covering South Carolina. He returned to Athens in August of 2010, only to find that David Pollack and David Greene were no longer playing for the Bulldogs. Adjustments were made.

Emerson is originally from Silver Spring, Md., and graduated from Maryland in 1998 with a degree in journalism and a minor in getting lost on the way to practically everywhere. Then he spent four years at The Washington Post, covering small colleges, a couple NCAA basketball tournaments, and on one glorious day, was yelled at by Tony Kornheiser. It was probably at The Post that he also learned to write in the third person.

These days he lives in Athens with his beloved and somewhat wimpy dog, Archie. Together they fight crime at night in northeast Georgia, except on nights there is no crime, in which case they sit at home, sip on white wine and watch reruns of "Mad Men."